Family Weekend helped bring several parents to watch CNU's first home XC meet of the year at Lee Hall Mansion. While the top 8 men and a couple key women had the weekend off between the big invitationals at Vanderbilt University and Williams College, home turf still needed defending against Conference rival Mary Washington. The Settlers Invitational provided some of the team's up-and-comers to take on leadership roles in the races.

From Deanna Corts:

I am so blessed to be a member of the CNU cross-country family. I could not ask for better teammates. We’ve been training together for just five weeks, and in that short time an incredible bond has formed. The bond between us was especially evident this weekend as we had our first race on the home course. Something Coach Barreau has been pushing this year is not to run for ourselves, but to run for each other. Before the race he left us with a verse from Philippians, “Do nothing from selfish ambition or conceit, but in humility count others more significant than yourselves”. And that’s exactly what we did and do.

During our race on the 21st I was given the opportunity to lead the first mile. This was an exciting, but nerve-wracking experience for me, and it was definitely a challenge. What got me through was knowing that my teammates were right behind me, pushing me the whole way. There were many times during that first mile, as well as the rest of the race, where I wanted to slow down and let someone else take the lead. I kept going because I knew that if I slowed down I wouldn’t only be letting down myself, but my team as well, and I was not about to let that happen. CNU won the meet; and I’m more than proud of everyone’s performance. I know that I wouldn’t have been able to as well without my teammates racing with me.

Something that’s really special about this team is that it isn’t just during races that we work for each other. Every run, whether it is a workout or a shakeout, is done with the mindset that it will better not only ourselves but also each other. There in lies the key to our success. When something is done for a selfish reason the benefits from it only affect one person, but when something is done for the good of others, the benefits know no bounds. This has been demonstrated numerous times throughout the season so far. We hold each other accountable, we push each other to be better, and we celebrate the accomplishments of one another with the same enthusiasm we would use if we had accomplished those tasks ourselves.

Most mornings, someone comments on how pretty the sunrise is and how the view of the sun coming up makes getting up at 5:30 for practice worth it. While the sunrise is pretty, what makes getting up at 5:30 worth it for me is being able to spend the first few hours of my day laughing and running with my favorite people.